No number has captured the attention and imagination of number fanatics
and nerds throughout the ages as much as the ratio of a circle's circumference to
its diameter--a.k.a. pi. With incisive historical insight and a refreshing sense
of humor, The Joy of Pi brings us the story of pi and humankind's fascination with it, from Archimedes
to da Vinci to the modern day Chudnovsky brothers, who holed up in their Manhattan
apartment with a homemade supercomputer churning out digits of pi into the billions.

The Joy of Pi
is a book of many parts. Breezy narratives tell the history of pi and the quirky
stories of those obsessed with it; sidebars recount fascinating pi trivia; dozens
of snippets and factoids reveal pi's many facets; mnemonic devices teach how to memorize
pi to many hundreds of digits; pi-inspired cartoons, poems, limericks, and jokes
offer delightfully "square" pi humor. And, to satisfy even the most exacting
of number jocks, the first one million digits of pi are reproduced throughout the
book. A tribute to all things pi, The
Joy of Pi is sure to foster a newfound affection and
respect for that big number with the funny little symbol.